For Immediate Release:

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Gita Chandra (gita@pkpr.com)

Patrick Kowalczyk (patrick@pkpr.com)

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WINNERS OF 13th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS ANNOUNCED;

SETH MACFARLANE, TWITTER TO BE HONORED FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT

NPR, NYTimes.com, Digg, NBC.Com, Next New Networks
The Onion, YouTube, BBC Among Top Winners

www.webbyawards.com

New York, NY (May 5, 2009) -The winners of the 13th Annual Webby Awards will be saluted alongside a remarkable slate of special achievement honorees, including Jimmy Fallon, Trent Reznor, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Kudrow, Seth MacFarlane, and Twitter, at a June 8th gala in New York City, organizers announced today.

The Webby Awards winners were revealed today in a wide range of categories, including Websites, online film and video, interactive advertising, and mobile Websites. In addition, over a half a million votes were cast in The Webby People’s Voice Awards. A full list of winners can be found at www.webbyawards.com.

Organizers also announced its annual list of Internet pioneers who will be recognized with Webby Special Achievement Awards. Joining the ranks of such past recipients as Al Gore, David Bowie, and Prince, the 2009 honorees are:

• Webby Person of the Year: Jimmy Fallon broke new ground this year by using the Internet to hone his late-night-hosting chops before the TV launch of his talk show. In the process, he became one of the most ardent online evangelists interacting with fans through his blog and Twitter, inviting feedback on his skits, and even hosting a contest that allowed fans to select the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon logo.
• Webby Artist of the Year: Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor will be honored for harnessing the power of the Internet to share his music and passions in new and innovative ways. His groundbreaking milestones include releasing his 2008 studio album The Slip for free download on nin.com, distributing HD-quality tour video via BitTorrent, and creating an alternate reality game in conjunction with his album Year Zero.
• Best Actress: Sarah Silverman became an Internet sensation on two fronts. Her music video “I’m F**king Matt Damon” was an instant YouTube hit, spawning a slew of viral variations. Her online impact went beyond pop culture with “The Great Schlep” (also a Webby winner for Best Political Video), which reached millions of viewers with its plea for Jewish kids to urge grandparents in Florida to vote for Barack Obama.
• Outstanding Comedic Performance: As star, co-writer, and co-producer of “Web Therapy” on lstudio.com, Lisa Kudrow set a new bar for how the Internet can be used to heightened comedic effect. Brilliantly playing a therapist who treats her patients via three-minute Webcam sessions, Kudrow created a hilarious, cringe-inducing collection of mini-comedy masterpieces.
• Webby Film and Video Person of the Year: The creator of “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” Seth MacFarlane will be honored for blazing a new frontier where web content meets advertising. In a groundbreaking partnership, MacFarlane’s web-only Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is now syndicated across Google’s Content Network, landing on the screens of his meticulously targeted demographic.
• Webby Breakout of the Year: Twitter, which has grown by 900% in the last year alone, follows in the footsteps of such past Webby Breakout honorees as YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr. Epitomizing the democratic spirit of the Web by being accessible to all, the micro-messaging phenomenon has created a level playing field where everyone from candidates and celebrities to customers and protestors can share their two-cents and shape public opinion. The award will be accepted by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

“All of this year’s winners embrace the Internet as the medium where they can take risks, experiment, and share new ideas,”said David-Michel Davies. “Their vision and creativity, like those of all of our winners, have helped make the Internet a richer, more exciting, and more vibrant experience.”

Highlights of the 13th Annual Webby Awards winners include:

• Multiple winners such as: NPR (7); NYTimes.com (6); NBC.com (6); Next New Networks (5); PBS (4); BBC (4); The Onion (3); Digg (3); Sundance Channel (3); YouTube Live (3); and Wired.com (3).
• Achieving both critical and popular consensus, 36 works won both a Webby Award and a People’s Voice Award including: Boston.com’s “The Big Picture”(Best Use of Photography); “1000 Awesome Things”(Best Cultural/Personal Blog); “Stickman Exodus”(Best Animation); “Prop. 8: The Musical”(Best Comedy: Short or Individual Episode); “Mint.com”(Best Financial Services); “TheAtlantic.com”(Best Magazine); “Flight of the Conchords Lip Dub”(Best Television); Current TVs “Hack the Debate”(Best Use of Interactive Video); “The Extreme Sticky Notes Experiments”(Best Branded Content); and “Xero”(Best Banking).
• Newcomers this year include Qik (Best Use of Mobile Video), aki-aki (Best Social Networking-Mobile), Animoto (Best Services and Applications), and Yearbook Yourself (Viral Marketing).
• The judges and public parted ways in several popular categories. For Viral Video, pop phenomenon “Shiba Inu Puppy Cam”earned the public’s top votes, while “The Website is Down: Sales Guy vs. Web Dude”was selected by the judges. For Best Individual Performance, the Academy chose Isabella Rossellini for “Green Porno,”while fans selected Eden Riegel for “Imaginary Bitches.”And for Best Weird, judges embraced “Jason Nelson’s Digital Oddities,”while the public voted for “FAIL Blog.”
• Winners of the 13h Annual Webby Awards hail from 14 countries including: United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Denmark, Greece, India, Germany, France, and Brazil.

Winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers in New York City on June 8th. Starting on June 9th on the new, custom Webby Awards YouTube Channel, fans will be able to view dozens of short video highlights from the ceremony, including the winner’s five-word speeches and celebrity red carpet interviews. Past headline-grabbing speechmakers include Al Gore (“Please don’t recount this vote”) and Stephen Colbert (“Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.”)

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Vinton Cerf, and Richard Branson.

About The Webby Awards

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received over 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Silverlight; The Creative Group; .ORG; Getty Images; The Barbarian Group; Digital Kitchen; Variety; Wired; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.

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